Let The Games Begin // Billie Eilish

Chapter 9

I stand in the bathroom of the female dorm, staring at myself in the mirror. My brown hair looks darker when it's this wet. The bags under my eyes have practically tripled in size, and I look much more exhausted than I did when I first arrived.

Everyone else is in the main room and getting into bed. I like being the last in the bathroom because it gives me a bit of space and time to gather my thoughts. As an introvert, it's really draining to be around this many people all of the time. I really value any alone time I can get.

I see a figure come in and stand behind me in the mirror, which startles me a bit. However, my nerves are settled when I notice that it's Billie. Her jet black hair is also wet and nicely framing her face. She's wearing the pyjamas provided to us by the staff, which are basically the same design as our uniforms except they're made of silk.

"Hey" I say quietly.

"Thank you. For earlier. What you said about the dreams being like breathing in really helped, so, thanks." she says, clearly uncomfortable as she fiddles with her hands. This is the first time I've felt like the more relaxed person between the two of us.

"Oh, of course. No problem. You did really well, considering it was only your second time."

She just sends me a forced smile while continuing to fidget with her fingers.

"Are, uh, are we still training tonight?" I cough out awkwardly. I still don't know if she actually wants to be talking to me, so I always get uncomfortable when I need to redirect the conversation.

"Well, I was actually gonna say maybe we should leave it for tonight."

Oh. I knew it was too good to be true. Now that I've helped her with the emotional training and she knows she can pass without me, she's not gonna help me anymore. It makes sense-

Almost as if she could read my thoughts, she responds before I can even verbalise them.

"And before you get any ideas, I'm not bailing on you. It's just, after today I don't think it's the best idea for you to be training. I can tell you're in pain. And you look really tired. No offence. It's just you could probably use the extra few hours of sleep."

I chuckle to myself. I must look really bad.

"Ok cool, thanks. Will we do it tomorrow night then?"

"For sure." she smiles.

With that, she walks out. It warms my heart a little to think that she came in just to speak to me, but I have to remind myself not to get attached. We may be partners, but either one of us or both of us will be gone soon.

I examine myself in the mirror for a few more seconds before deciding that it's best for my self esteem if I don't. I speedily brush my teeth and scramble into bed. Within a few minutes, the lights go out and all the players fall into a deep sleep.

~

That all too familiar sound of the highly pitched alarm rings through the speakers, instantly waking each player from their slumber. Everyone groans groggily as they do every morning, and begin to step out of bed and get ready for the day. However, this time the ringing sound is replaced by the voice of Sabine, the woman who accompanied James and I on the train. Her voice is much too chirpy for 5:30 in the morning.

"Good morning players. Please make your way to the garden area at 6 am. You will be given 2 hours to socialise. I repeat, please make your way to the garden area at 6am to socialise. Enjoy!"

With that, the speaker cuts out, and everyone just looks around, unsure how to feel about that information. This is unusual, normally it seems as though the controllers of The Games don't care about the relationships between players. It feels strange that they are trying to force us all to mingle now.